The Mask, The Mirror, and a mystery: Three Poems
by SealedHearts
Summary: How did Erik feel during Christine's betrayal? Here he has penned his thoughts for you during two separate instances. The third is for you to guess.


**Author's Note: This is my first series of poems to have posted on . Please let me know what you think of them. However, I must thank kaliawai512 for originally posting Mask and Mirror under her name years ago and for later encouraging me to join . She is a wonderful writer, and I encourage you to check out her works! I also want to thank Fae2135, angel's-one-and-only, and Chibi Hime for their encouraging reviews in years past. Thank you so much! Now, for the third poem. Your job will be to guess the POV, the content, the message, etc. Basically, what is it about and whose POV does it come from? Enjoy!**

**~SealedHearts**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Opera (Webber or Leroux). I am simply a humble phan. **

**The Mask**

Why…_why_ did you betray me? Was it because of my deformity—this _ghastly_ curse I've suffered since birth? When I was young, my father left, wanting nothing to do with a child whose face looked like it had rotted away. My mother gave me a mask of pale porcelain and turned away, sobbing as I wished only to be _loved_. She left, and I was alone…

_Why…why…?_ Was it my horrific face—the one behind white porcelain? Did you think it to be a mask too? When you saw the truth, you screamed while I wept…for the both of us. I love you—_I love you!_ And yet…you chose him—he who was in the dazzling light… I knew when you saw each other, there was love. He'd fallen in love with your voice as I had. But…why him? I gave you my music…my world… my _love_… For the first time, I had felt as I never had before: _safe and understood_—not abused and hurt by the rest of the world… I made your heart grow wings and soar! You sang like you never had before! With my music, I set you free from the confines of the world! Then you saw my face—the true face of your mysterious teacher, and you sobbed, pitying me…

I gave you my _love_, and this is how you return it? _You were_ _afraid_…_of me! _If only you knew I'd watched you two from the shadows and had seen you both return vows of love for each other… You _laughed_ when you were with him. I could see the joy in your eyes. You were never that way with me… How my eyes glistened with tears after you left and I burned inside as I fingered the rose you had dropped when you saw him…_The one I had given you_. The lovely rose's thorns seemed to prick my very heart…

**The Mirror**

My angel…

My dove, my rose…

You were the only one to understand me. To understand my heart. My world.

How adoringly I'd watched you from behind the mirror during our lessons. How proud of you I'd be when you sang out in your crystal voice. I had taught you everything I knew, and in turn, you became the new Margarita! Oh, my angel! You were so beautiful, and your voice was so tender…

After your star performance, you came back to your room, and it was there I had been waiting. Your face was brimming with excitement and happiness, yet how tenderly you held the rose I had left for you…as though you had reserved your true happiness for me. I was about to speak to you when _he_ came.

I drew back from the mirror and watched him carefully, seething when you embraced him. I felt tossed aside. Lonely. Betrayed. Angered. The same feelings that had shaped me many years ago. You were my angel! Not his! Yet the bitter, choking sadness grew when I saw not joy, but _love_ spark in your shining eyes.

He left and I suddenly smiled. Swiftly and silently like a shadow, I approached mirror again. I whispered your name softly and beckoned you forward with a gloved hand.

**Glazed Eyes**

I still see the glazed eyes.

Cold, blind, and still…

The light is repelled—the darkness materializes and descends.

Frozen, unmoving, and pale like marble.

And yet, the white-hot spears slither down, and the tender crimson beauty falls, the scarlet tears overtaking the frozen gaze.

Black silk rustles, and I am swiftly carried away, the spears burning once more.


End file.
